War Council
Standing aboard Aspera Dominus in the war room, Chapter Master’s thoughts drift to his recent conversation with Alexander Kerr and Amelia Engel on Folkvangr. “Ahem, My Liege, if I might have a moment of your time?” Turning around Chapter Master notices a simple middle aged human standing before him with medium length black hair and blue eyes. The man is dressed in a simple brown tunic and cloak held on his shoulder with a masterfully crafted gold broach with a pearl engraving of a woman holding a spear in one hand and the other hand placed atop the head of a Terran lion. At the man’s hip is a primitive, yet ornately crafted long sword. His right hand is clearly a bionic replacement with four thin metallic fingers each appearing each have a different yet simple function. The man performs a quick archaic bow where he places his left hand across his hip and bows while keeping his back straight. After noticing the Chapter Master’s reaction to his ancient display of reverence he offers a quick response. “Old habits die hard my Lord. My name is Serf Ob-Cal-KC-0572, but to make things easier I normally go by Eisen.” The smaller human smiles warmly before continuing. “I have been aboard Aspera Dominus working in your war room ever since we left Luna in the year 306.M41 of Our Lord. I have been reviewing all of our past battle reports for the past year and there are several things I would like to discuss with you if you would permit me but a moment of your time." Chapter Master thinks for a few moments, realizing this man just admitted to working for him nearly 4 decades but barely looking old enough to be 40 years old. “Speak.” “My Lord, but if you will forgive my bluntness, for I know your time is important and you are needed for many things.” Eisen signals over his shoulder and a servo-skull floats up holding a long scroll that unwinds. “The first order of business for the chapter is how we are severely underfunded. However, we have made progress in this area and I would like to temporarily put this point on hold. Our second order is how we are severely inefficient by moving the entire chapter around on the Aspera Dominus. Copernicon has shown great skill in commanding fleets and it was wise of you to appoint him, however, one Battle Barge and a few escorts that are constantly tied up in shuttling around squads do not make a fleet. We require many more ships my Lord.” The servo-skull scrolls to the next point of business. “With additional ships we could then begin our primary goal of securing the sector. I know when we first arrived in the sector our maps were out dated, and we acquired a few updates to our star charts since then, but we have still not begun to spread out across the multiple subsectors of Sector Dues and I fear if we continue to spend our time on Mormark, Varda, and Tachion Primarius we may lose the good will from the High Lords of Terra. If we were to acquire more ships we could send the different companies out to secure or at least scout more of the sector. Even after your recent glorious battle aboard Dark Sister you barely used half of the brothers aboard Aspera Dominus. Allow your Captains to lead their men to personal glory while we deal with politics in the Core and their skills will surely advance. This also ties in with the third order of business my lord, your men are growing complacent, tired, or dare I even say weaker as the years go by and they engage in but one or two skirmishes. You’ve appointed men you trust as Captains, allow them to lead their men without you trying to micromanage every single man in the Chapter.” Once more the servo-skull adjusts the long scroll. “The fourth order, ties in with the first and second. To fund the ships needed we need money, which we do not have. However, I’ve spoken with Averon about some of our past financial investments. We once loaned money for 5 years in order to obtain interest. I believe with our strong ties with the Nestorian Learners we may be able to do the same plan, but in reverse. The Nestorian’s will supply us with sufficient holy machine spirits to mobilize a portion of our chapter into securing more territory of this sector. In exchange we pay them a yearly interest rate equal to 5% of their investment over the next five years with the remainder paid at the end of the terms. We could suggest terms of the contract along either additional cash or technology that the ships discover during their explorations. If they supply us with two cruisers and two escorts at even their initial offering prices four decades ago we are only paying 25 million thrones interest per year. With the two sets of ships we can then send companies out into the sector. Obviously after recent events with one of our Shadow Escorts I suggest sending a cruiser and escort together at all times.” Eisen’s right hand twitches and he quickly clenches his fist to stop the spasm. In an attempt to distract people from the rebellious machine spirit in his right arm, Eisen runs his left hand through his hair before continuing. “The remaining orders of business are all merely reminders my Lord. Not nearly as long as the first four I assure you. First, Brother Elegion will be returning to us in two years from his time in the Deathwatch. We will need to plan a celebration for our honored brother upon his return. Second, we still are unclear about the reasons for the founding of the chapter. It would be wise to continue looking into that as well as the strange events surrounding the death of Zykion and the key he entrusted to Synius. Third, we are not on the best basis with the Inquisition in the short time we have been here. You’ve had one Inquisitor threaten to stick a… well I’m sure you remember Faceless’s threats without me repeating them. Also, Quixos whom Faceless told us was a Radical, and who had the underwater facilities which you purged. However, our Silent brother’s say they support Quixos. We have not pursued anything regarding the Inquisition apart from trying to confirm Faceless’s location. I think it might be more prudent to pursue information regarding to rogue inquisitor Quixos. Fourth, you’ve yet to look into the more tainted heretical nobles that Faceless had some of his darker dealing with. Fifth, we have built magnificent forges and medicae facilities at Tombstone but aside from Klementhos using the facilities for work on geneseed we do not use anywhere near these facilities potential. We should put plans down for production of armor that we can send out along with our companies. In the immediate future we might want to purchase some for them so they can start on their crusades immediately. Sixth,” Eisen’s voice lowers to a barely audible whisper, “our defenses of Tombstone are not as strong as they should be considering what is hidden beneath.” The smaller human’s smile returns and he continues speaking. “Seventh, our spy networks are not being used to their fullest. We should consider adding addition funds into them whenever we get them and have our agents report on any nobles or events that we can use to our advantage. News of the Monstrum: Adeptus Astartes being written would have been beneficial as we could have taken covert actions before the vile Fidorius Pax was able to publish such blasphemy. Eighth, while it would have been nice to stop Pax from publishing his work, there is a nice bit of a mistake that he wrote into the works.” Eisen’s grin grows wide and he chuckles to himself. “He blames the entire events of the Horus Heresy on Our Lord taking actions against his sons. While –IN- the context of the book it seems reasonable that he would do that if you are monsters, but… Because we own a copy of this tainted tome we need only to show it to other chapters we have met and we will have more than enough aid in ripping the corrupted Ecclesiasts from their tarnished thrones. Ninth, you’ve still yet to take actions against the suspected cult activity on Oskea. One of the first things you could do once acquiring the ships from Nestorium would be to send a company here to investigate. Or, we could always just call in the Inquisition now that we’ve started to rebuild Prothera and they should be able to resume a reasonable amount of production within the next year now that their government has stabilized thanks to our friends from Mars.” Eisen shoos away the servo-skull and bows to the Chapter Master one last time. “May the wisdom of Saint Minerva continue to guide you and I hope some of what I have said can help you in the coming darkness.” The Feudal human starts to turn to leave but then stops as he remembers one last thing. “Oh, My Liege, one last thing. Might I have permission to examine the artifacts retrieved from the Dark Sister space hulk? I may be able to help in cataloguing, organizing, and storing some of the more questionable items you might want to bring back to Tombstone.” Eisen runs both of his hands through his hair and leaves the right one scratching the back of his head. A quiet static sound fills the area surrounding the two men. “And, being as how Tombstone and its contents are immovable, I would like your permission to set up a new Reliquary at the bottom of your fortress. You’ve finally amassed enough artifacts to justify opening a new vault.” The man pulls a small crest from within his robes long enough to show he is a member of the Scholariate at Arms before he removes his right hand from behind his head and the static sound fades. He then turns and walks out of the war room.